Shinobi Red & White Dragon Emperors
by Uzumaki Ricky
Summary: Naruto may be able to count his blessings with one hand, but wait until you see what he does with that one hand. Sekiryūtei Naruto. NaruHina, possible Harem.


**Here's another little something new from yours truly. Won't be one of my main focuses, but I've been wanting to do a fic like this for a while now. Enjoy!**

**Shinobi Red & White Dragon Emperors**

**Chapter 1: Birth of the New Sekiryūtei**

Many eons ago, long before even chakra itself, a war was waged between three factions, all of which were under the same religion. These factions were the Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils. The war between these three factions devastated all three of them. But it appeared that the Fates had finally decided to shine upon them, for a new threat appeared. Two Heavenly Dragons, one red and one white, had begun an intense battle between the two of them, both of whom had the power to kill even gods and demon kings. The red Heavenly Dragon was known as the Welsh Dragon and the Sekiryūtei while the white Heavenly Dragon was known as the Vanishing Dragon and the Hakuryuukou.

Their battle was interrupted by the Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils. Enraged, both Heavenly Dragons attacked the leaders of the three factions. This lead to their bodies being destroyed and their souls being sealed into two separate relics. These holy relics were two of an unknown number of holy relics called Sacred Gears, gifted to humans by the God from the Bible, the leader of the Angel faction. These two relics would eventually become two of the thirteen most powerful Sacred Gears in existence, known as the thirteen Longinus. These Sacred Gears were called Boosted Gear, also known as The Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet, and Divine Dividing, also known as the White Dragon Emperor's Light Wings.

Eventually, with the death of the God from the Bible, leader of the Angel faction, and the Yondai Maō, the leaders of the Devil faction, the fighting between the three factions ceased and an uneasy time free of war between the three came to be. As the war-less time continued, humans possessing Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing, as well as many other different types of Sacred Gears, popped up again and again, with those bearing Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing doing battle many times. Then, eons later later, a boy who possessed Boosted Gear appeared and was reincarnated as a Devil after being killed by a Fallen Angel. This boy, like his predecessors, inherited the title of the dragon within his Sacred Gear, and would even become known as one of the most powerful possessors of the Boosted Gear to date. Eventually, the boy became a young man and even helped a more genuine peace be attained between the three factions.

It was a peace that lasted long after his death. But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. This held true for even the peace between the three factions. Several eons after it was brought about by the young Sekiryūtei, it ended and another war was eventually sparked between them. This second war between Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils, having been suppressed for so long, started anew with no restraint at all. It sparked an apocalypse on Earth, wiping out almost all life on the planet.

To save the world from extinction, a god from one of the other existing groups, a god known as Kami, created a holy tree on Earth and gave it a consciousness of it's own. Kami tasked this holy tree, named the Shinju, with erecting a powerful barrier on Earth. This barrier would prevent the Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils from continuing to wage their war on Earth, keeping contact between them to a minimum. The barrier allowed them to set foot on Earth, but only so long as no fighting broke out between them. If it did... then the Angel, Fallen Angel, or Devil who dared to violate the Shinju's territory with their battles within it's holy barrier were reduced to ash.

It worked well, but the problem was the Shinju couldn't stop the actions of humans. For many eons after the Shinju was created by Kami, during a time of war and strife for all of humanity, a human woman of unclear origin named Ōtsutsuki Kaguya violated the Shinju for her own gain and became a force to be reckoned with. The world was unprepared for her power and, thus, unable to stop her. And, with her power, she developed ideas of grandeur, believing herself fit to become a new deity. Not only that, but, when Kaguya violated the Shinju, it was corrupted by it's own hatred of the woman. Enraged, the Shinju assumed a newer, far more monstrous form, which would eventually come to be called the Jūbi, and attempted to seek it's revenge.

Eventually, Kaguya's own sons defeated both their mother _and_ the Jūbi, ending Kaguya's tyrannical rule while sealing the Jūbi within one of them. The one among the two brothers who had the Jūbi sealed inside him was Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, the man who would eventually become known as the Rikudo Sennin. One thing he did but was not known for was creating the nine bijū from the Jūbi's power, which he ripped away from it before sealing it's body into the moon.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back it up there a second, fuzz-butt!" A blond-haired boy with cerulean blue eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek, wearing an orange jumpsuit, said to a nine-tailed kitsune with red-orange fur and red eyes. It possesses the upper-body structure of a human, complete with opposable thumbs on its clawed hands. But what was most noticeable about the kitsune was it's immense size. The red-orange kitsune was roughly the size of a small mountain, large enough to dwarf entire forests and tower over large rock formations and buildings.

"What?" The giant kitsune asked, not liking that it had been interrupted.

"You're telling me that a person created you? And there're _more_ of you?" The boy, who was named Uzumaki Naruto, asked.

"Tell me boy, where did you think I came from?" The kitsune challenged.

"I never thought about it. But I find it hard to believe a man from long ago created you just like that." Naruto answered.

"And I find it hard to believe you thought you could match skills with a man who was giving your sensei, a jounin, a hard time." Kyuubi added, referring to an earlier moment when Kakashi had fought Zabuza, the Kirigakure no Kijin, while Naruto and his team were taking a client home. At the present moment, all four of them and the client Tazuna were safely in the old man's home and Naruto was chatting with the demon trapped in his body.

"It was only a Mizu Bunshin... but I can't argue with you there." Naruto admitted. When Naruto had gone to sleep, he somehow ended up in a place that looked like some cross between an underground prison and some kind of sewer. Trusting his gut and his instincts, he eventually made it to a more well-lit area with a massive gate-like cell.

The doors had a paper with the kanji for "Seal" on where they. And, behind that cell, was the Kyūbi no Yōko. The Kyūbi convinced Naruto to come closer before trying to impale him with it's claws once he was almost within range. After calming down from the initial scare, Naruto had begun to question the fox about what had happened with his fight with Zabuza. His first serious battle against a jōnin, his first encounter with a true elite ninja...

_**Flashback - Team Seven's Encounter with Zabuza**_

Naruto put his hitai-ate back on, having retrieved it, then wiped away some blood of the corner of his mouth. "Back me up, Sasuke! As much as we both don't like to admit it, neither of us can take this guy alone!"

His teammate, a dark-eyed dark-haired boy who looked like he wasn't used to good moods, who went by the name Uchiha Sasuke, looked at the blonde boy for a moment. His expression was one of reluctance, like he thought Naruto was crazy for considering the idea, but it soon changed to one of insight, like he realized the blonde might actually be onto something.

"It's a stupid idea, but it's a hell of a lot better than the alternative." He responded, reaching for one of his weapons that was more effective than a standard kunai. "If we just leave Kakashi-sensei behind and get Tazuna out of here, Zabuza will just kill Kakashi-sensei and track us down to kill us later before killing Tazuna."

Haruno Sakura, a pink-haired girl behind them who was guarding an old man with a straw hat and a beard, looked surprised to see this. "A-are you both crazy?! That's Momochi Zabuza, a jōnin-ranked nukenin! Even if it's just a Mizu Bunshin and you two work together, he'll kill you both!"

Naruto looked back at Sakura, disappointment in his gaze. "Don't you think we know that?! But we don't have to beat him! We just have to find a way to free Kakashi-sensei! Besides, it's like Kakashi-sensei said..." Naruto turned back to face the Kijin no Kirigakure, their sensei, and the nukenin's clone, a determined fire burning in his eyes. "In the shinobi world, those who break the rules are trash... but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash!"

Hatake Kakashi, also known as Sharingan no Kakashi, was surprised to hear his blond student utter those words. Surprised... but proud. They hadn't been a team for very long... but it looked as though Naruto had really taken his words on the day of the Bell Test to heart. Sakura, Sasuke, and Zabuza were just as surprised as Kakashi was to hear Naruto say this.

"Sure, you can talk tough, kid... but can you back it up?" Zabuza teased.

"You tell me." Naruto said before making a cross hand sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Suddenly the area was filled with Naruto's, more than he had used back during the bell test. All of them rushed to fight Zabuza and his clone, but, unfortunately, none of them could walk on water, so many of them sort of used other clones as springboards to lunge at the Kiri nukenin while the others were cut down by his mizu bunshin.

Zabuza's clone smirked, an impressed look on his face. "Kage Bunshin, huh? And quite a lot of them for an amateur and genin brat. But... " The Kirigakure no Kijin's mizu bunshin then began to draw his massive sword using only one hand. He then proceeded to use it to cut down every clone that attempted to attack him. Once he completed this task, he returned his sword to it's place on his back. "Not good enough!"

Without warning, Sasuke threw a large collapsible shuriken, one he would have thrown earlier had Naruto's clones not blocked the sight of the intended target. Nonetheless, Zabuza was incapable of dodging while holding Kakashi in place, and he put his own weapon away. So he only had one option, he jumped over it and when it was right under him he kicked it with his left foot to show how feeble such an attack was against him.

Zabuza had expected an attack like that. However, something he _wasn't_ expecting was for a puff of smoke to go off after he kicked the shuriken and for it to turn into another Naruto. His eyes widened as he saw this. "_WHAT THE_?!"

Naruto leaped up, attempting to punch Zabuza in the stomach with his left arm. "Eat this!" Suddenly, Naruto's arm began to glow lightly before a red, armored bracer with yellow accents and a green jewel on top of the palm area appeared on his arm. The fingers were left uncovered. Not noticing this, Naruto lashed out to deal his blow, putting all of his strength into it.

However, Zabuza was able to shake off his surprise _just_ in time and dodge the blow before attempting to kick Naruto away. Unfortunately, as he dodged the attack, he also accidentally released his Suirō no Jutsu. This freed Kakashi, allowing him to stop the kick and launch Zabuza back, sending him further onto the lake.

"Good job, Naruto." Kakashi said as he inhaled some much needed air and took his student back to dry land. "But what is that thing on your hand?"

"My hand? what are you-?" Naruto started, unaware of any change, until he actually looked at his limb and panicked. "What the heck is that thing?"

Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna were just as surprised as Naruto was. They saw it manifest on Naruto's hand, having no idea how it happened. Soon, Sakura spoke up. "Wh... what... what is _that_...?"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the bracer-like gauntlet that had appeared on his blond student's hand. He mused lightly under his breath about what it was, not knowing that Naruto could hear him. "Since I don't feel the presence of the Kyūbi or any of it's chakra coming off of it, I doubt it's related to the fox. And if it's not related to the Kyūbi or Naruto's jinchūriki status... then what the hell _is_ it..?"

It was a good thing Naruto chose not to call attention to the jōnin's words, as in his current state of mind he might have just shouted out his connection to the Kyūbi for everything in the forest to hear. The main reason he kept his mouth shut was because Zabuza's mizu bunshin wasn't gone yet, and it attempted to ambush the Konoha ninja.

Naruto turned his attention to the mizu bunshin, which had gotten over it's own shock, and was making it's way towards the rest of their team. Naruto then turned his attention to Kakashi. "Let's focus on this later!"

Kakashi snapped out of his musings, seeing that Zabuza was heading towards him fast, and nodded. "Right! I'll handle Zabuza! You help Sakura and Sasuke hold off the mizu bunshin until I get back!"

Naruto nodded and went back to his teammates. "I know what you're going to ask, and I don't know any more than you do. So, for now, pretend it doesn't exist and focus on what we can get answers to."

Sasuke nodded, knowing it was futile to argue, and tried to engage the water clone. None of his jutsu were any good against water, a weakness he now lamented, so he went for taijutsu and using kunai, hoping that, like kage bunshin, this clone couldn't take a deadly blow and keep going.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes while throwing some shuriken at the mizu bunshin. "So what's the plan, Naruto?"

The mizu bunshin just used it's sword to deflect the metal throwing stars, then slashed at Naruto. Naruto just barely managed to jump back, dodging it. "Hit it hard and fast from all sides!"

Sakura glared at Naruto while throwing kunai at the mizu bunshin, only to have them be deflected as well. 'That's not going to work, you baka!"

Naruto made a hand sign, once again creating a large amount of shadow clones. This caused Sakura to sweatdrop. "Then again... maybe it will..."

"Even bakas can have good ideas, Sakura-chan." The original Naruto said while the duplicates began to surround and swarm the immediate threat. The original Naruto also charged in, dodging slashes from the Mizu Bunshin's Kubikiribōchō.

It went on like this for several minutes. The clones and original Naruto would attack from all sides while Sasuke and Sakura threw kunai and shuriken, the Mizu Bunshin would cut clones down, and the original Naruto would make more. Eventually, it cut through some of the clones, catching the original by surprise.

To defend, Naruto put up the bracer-like gauntlet on the back of his hand and used it to block the blow. Unfortunately, this also sent Naruto flying back from the force of the slash, causing him to smash back-first into a tree.

"Kid, I had to kill every person in my class just to become a genin. Outnumbering me is the worst strategy you could have." The mizu bunshin claimed to Naruto.

Naruto hissed, in pain, frustration, and anger, and smashed his fist down onto the ground. 'Damn it...! Bunshin or not, this guy's too strong...!' That's when Naruto heard something. For a second there, he thought he heard a voice of some kind say "Boost!"

He looked around. "Who said that?"

Zabuza's clone looked mildly confused. "Who said what?"

Naruto looked around, trying to place the voice. He knew that it wasn't Sakura or Sasuke, and voice sure didn't resemble Tazuna's or the Zabuza clone's. Naruto then looked down at the bracer on his left arm. 'Could it have been...? Nah, I must be crazy! Still...'

Nonetheless, the bracer felt like it was vibrating. Like it had a lot of power it wanted Naruto to unleash, or was trying to tell him something.

Getting to his feet, much easier than he should have after taking a hit like that, Naruto began to consider his options. 'Kakashi-sensei seemed to think it might not be related to the Kyūbi. But what if it is...? If it is, and I use it, I could lose control and hurt Tazuna, Sasuke, or Sakura...!'

'On the other hand, what else can I use against this guy?'

Soon, images of what could happen if he didn't try began to flash through Naruto's mind. Him dead at the Zabuza clone's feet, his torso practically cleaved straight through by a slash from it's sword. 'No...! Sakura, cleaved straight in half from the waist. 'Stop...!'

Sasuke, bisected from groin to head, blood spurting out from both halves. 'Cut it out...!' Looking up, Naruto saw Sasuke get taken down by an elbow drop from the Zabuza clone right before his own shadow clones attacked it again. Rage from the images he'd seen clouding his mind, Naruto charged forward. As he charged, the young genin felt as if his chakra was being... boosted in some way.

He lashed out with a right cross. But this one was much faster than his earlier blows. The Zabuza clone managed to catch it and throw Naruto over it's shoulder. However, this gave Sasuke the time he needed to get back. Once he did, he began to wonder about what was happening to Naruto. 'What the hell's going on...?'

Sakura was wondering about this, too. 'I-it's like Naruto's strength and speed keep doubling or something...!'

The Zabuza clone chuckled, a slight smirk under it's bandage mask. "Impressive, kid! I don't know how you keep getting stronger, but at least this won't be boring! But I'm _still_ going to kill you and those other two brats before I turn my blade on the bridge builder!"

At this, with his bangs casting his eyes in shadows, Naruto's rage finally reached a boiling point. Naruto's cerulean blue eyes began to seemingly glow as a rush of power seemed to briefly flow out of him. "No... you... _WON'T_!" At this, on the bracer's green jewel, which was glowing with some kind of green light, some kind of mark appeared as the bracer began to change. Green inscriptions appeared on it as claw-like armor coated Naruto's fingers and the yellow spike-like accents elongated.

Sakura, Sasuke, Tazuna, and even the Zabuza clone were all surprised by the change to the bracer, now claw-shaped gauntlet, that was on the blond's left arm. All of a sudden, Naruto lashed out with his new feature like an animal, hitting the mizu bunshin before it could respond and reducing it down to a puddle.

Tazuna, Sakura, and Sasuke's eyes were practically bugging out of their heads as they saw this. None of them could believe their eyes. After all that time that Naruto and his two teammates were struggling against that clone... Naruto beat it with a single punch! None of them even saw him _move_!

Naruto paused to just look at his new hand. 'I don't know what you are or where you came from, but, if you won't hurt my team, I'll be glad for the help.'

"N-Naruto...?" He heard someone call. The blond jinchūriki then turned his attention towards the source of the voice. The source of the voice was Sakura, a shocked silent Sasuke standing right next to her.

"H... _how_ did you _do_ that...?" The pinkette questioned, unable to believe her eyes.

"Honestly? I know about as much as you do."

Sasuke, having finally snapped out of his daze, turned his attention to Naruto's arm. "What _is_ that thing?! Does it have something to do with how you did that?!"

Naruto sighed, looking at the claw-shaped gauntlet on his arm. "I wish I knew, Sasuke... I wish I knew..."

It was at that moment that they heard a pained yell. One that sounded like it came from Zabuza. Turning, they saw Zabuza pinned against a tree with a kunai in each of his limbs, yelling in agony. Not only that, but Kakashi was standing on one of the branches right above Zabuza.

"Whoa, Kakashi-sensei is good." Naruto praised, impressed.

The others could only nod in agreement. Then, they chose to get a closer look, sticking close to Tazuna the whole time. They arrived just in time to hear Zabuza ask Kakashi something. "C... can you see the future...?"

"Yes, and your future is-" He was cut off by a set of senbon coming out of nowhere hitting Zabuza in the neck. "Great, there goes my great zinger."

Surprised, they all looked in the direction the senbon came from. There, standing on a tree branch, was a person with long black hair, gathered in a white bun holder with two locks of their hair loose, framing their face, and bound with metal hair cuffs at the ends. They wore a shinobi outfit consisting of the standard Kirigakure pinstriped outfit which stopped at their knees. Over this, they wore a green haori with white trimmings and, around their waist, a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around their waist twice.

They also wore light-brown platoon sandals with straps in the same color as their kimono and nail polish on their fingernails and toenails in matching blue green color. Finally, on their face, they wore a hunter-nin mask, which was white with thin, curved eye-holes and a red wavy design in place of the mouth, as well as the Kirigakure symbol etched in the top.

Silently, the Hunter-nin jumped and landed by Zabuza's trapped body. "Thank you for your help Konoha ninja. I've been on his trail for quite some time. You gave me the perfect distraction."

Inwardly, Kakashi was still a bit upset at having his thunder stolen and his zinger ruined. Outwardly, he just eye-smiled and nodded. "You're welcome, oinin-san."

Naruto, on the other hand was outraged. "Hey! Who the hell do you think you are, pal?! We work our asses off to take Zabuza on and you just take him out like _that_!" Naruto began to stomp towards them. "Why, I ought to-"

"Naruto." Kakashi warned, making the blond stop. "He's just doing his job, like we are."

Naruto looked up at Kakashi. "B-but-"

"No buts, Naruto... you just have to accept that, in this world, there are people as young as you who're stronger than me. That's just the way the shinobi world works." Kakashi told his student. But, if Naruto were a betting man, he'd have bet that Kakashi was still upset about the oinin ruining his zinger.

Said ninja removed Zabuza from the tree and let him collapse. Kakashi was immediately suspicious until he saw the Hunter-nin check for a pause. "He's dead, and by now it should be safe to conclude there are no dead-man-switch traps on him I needed to be wary of."

Kakashi nodded. He knew that dead-man switches were quite common with more paranoid shinobi and nukenin. But he raised an eyebrow when he saw the oinin lift up Zabuza's corpse and disappear. But, before he could comment on it, Kakashi collapsed and hit the ground.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto and Sakura shouted before rushing to check on him. As they ran, Naruto's arm returned to normal and he felt an incredible loss of energy.

Naruto felt himself become exhausted as soon as his arm returned to normal. Before he could try to stop himself, he too hit the ground and collapsed. The sound of him collapsing made his teammates stop, and stand there between him and their sensei, not knowing which one to assist first.

Sasuke knelt down and shook Naruto. "Naruto! Hey dobe, wake up! This is no time for a nap!"

To his surprise, Naruto didn't look or even sound like he was asleep. No, this was more of a situation that could be best described as 'out cold'.

Sasuke sighed. "Damn it, Naruto! Now we have to carry you _and_ Kakashi-sensei!"

"Are you kidding?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke looked directly at her. "He's our teammate, so we'll catch hell from Kakashi if we leave him behind. Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, we couldn't have freed Kakashi or beaten that Mizu Bunshin without him. We owe him, Sakura. And the Uchiha _always_ repay their debts."

With that, Sasuke grabbed Naruto and began to lift him. "Now, are you going to help me with these two or not?"

"Thing is, I'm not even sure I can help with just one, let alone two. Doesn't Naruto have any clones left to help?"

Sasuke looked and sighed. "Unfortunately, no. It looks like any of his Kage Bunshin that weren't cut down by Zabuza's bunshin dispelled when the baka passed out."

"If it'll help, I can get your sensei. You just focus on the blond kid." Tazuna offered as he began to heft one of the unconscious Kakashi's arm over his shoulder and lift him up.

"Good." Sasuke said while lifting up his teammate. " You going to help, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded and went to Naruto's other side. She then grabbed Naruto's arm and put it over her shoulders, helping to lift him up. "The first thing we need to do is find somewhere safe to take these two so that they can rest up."

Tazuna spoke up at this. "We can go to my house. It's relatively close by."

"How close is relatively?" Sakura asked, since the bridge builder had yet to convince her he had good judgment.

"Close enough that, if we go now and hurry as fast as we can while carrying these two, we should get there quickly." Tazuna answered.

"Good enough for me." Sasuke mumbled before following the old man.

The last thing Naruto remembered as he passed out was the oinin taking Zabuza, then nothing. He thought heard Sasuke and Sakura say something after that, but it was like listening underwater. Later, after he first woke up, he tried to get his bearings. But, right when he did, he could feel his stomach rumbling.

Due to this, he left the room, trying to be cautious, to find the kitchen or something to eat. When he neared a corner, he heard four people talking. Three of the voices he recognized as Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna. But he couldn't place the fourth.

As he got closer, the voices stopped talking, telling him they could hear him. He came into view and saw his teammates and the client for the mission seated at a table. The fourth person turned out to be a woman, younger than Tazuna but definitely older than any of the ninja.

"About time you woke up." Sasuke said.

"Yeah. You've been unconscious for a while now." Sakura told him.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How long're we talking?"

"Long enough to be worth complaining about." Sakura answered.

'Gee, that narrows it down.' Naruto sarcastically thought. "Is it at least the day after we fought Zabuza?"

Sasuke grunted. "Barely. It's nighttime now."

'So only a couple of hours.' Naruto told himself. "Where's sensei?"

Tazuna was the one who spoke up at this. "Your sensei's still out cold. Looks like whatever caused him to pass out took a lot more out of him than whatever caused you to pass out took out of you."

"Speaking of which, what was that?" Sakura asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I didn't know then, how would I know now?"

Sasuke sighed. "Saw that coming. And I'll bet that, just like I was, you're wondering what was going on with that thing."

Sakura added her own two cents. "For a second, I thought that it was like your speed and strength were doubling."

"The thing is... that's pretty much what it felt like." Naruto responded.

"If that's true, then, once it stopped, your body probably felt like it had expended more energy than it was able to handle. Passing out was the only thing your body could do, but there might be more damage to it." Sasuke continued.

At this, Naruto felt a bit concerned. But, before he could voice his concerns, the older woman in the room decided to add her own two cents to the conversation. "If that's the case, then maybe you should go rest for a while longer. You know, just in case."

"I feel fine." Naruto insisted.

"You've been leaning against the wall this entire time." The older woman pointed out.

Naruto shrugged. "So? Doesn't mean I'm not okay."

"Stand up without support." She told him.

At this, Naruto nodded and stood up straight. But, as soon as he did, he began to fall over. When he saw this, Tazuna just couldn't resists the urge to say something he'd always wanted to say if this situation came up. "Tiiiiiiiiiiimbeeeeeeer!"

Naruto caught himself, ensuring he landed on all fours instead of on his face.

"Yes, you need to rest more. And, before you argue, there's nothing for you to do here tonight anyway." The older woman told the young boy.

Naruto sighed. "Can I at least get to eat dinner first? I mean, maybe that would help."

"He's got a point, Tsunami." Tazuna said.

Tsunami nodded. "That's acceptable. I was just finishing up making dinner, anyway."

"Please tell me you're making ramen. That would really hit the spot." Naruto asked.

Tsunami shook her head. "Sorry, nothing that fancy."

Sakura went from rolling her eyes at Naruto's request to shocked at Tsunami's words. "You consider ramen fancy?"

"Right now, anything that isn't fish and rice is fancy."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were all surprised to hear this as Naruto took a seat at the table.

"Is it that hard to get food in this country now?" Naruto asked.

"The only reason we can even get fish is because we know how to catch them. It's hard enough affording rice now." Tsunami lamented.

"Good thing Chōji didn't take this mission instead." Naruto added, and Sakura found herself nodding.

Soon, Tsunami had dinner on the table, then went down the hall. Dinner was simple, but still better than the ration bars they otherwise would have been forced to eat. The three genin considered discussing strategy for any upcoming fights that would be against someone stronger than Zabuza, but they had to admit that even with a strategy, their chances of victory were nonexistent without Kakashi.

Since Kakashi was an experienced jōnin who also had a Sharingan eye, he was really the only chance they had against someone stronger than Zabuza. Especially considering that they struggled against a clone of Zabuza, which was likely weaker than the original, and had to rely on the thing that appeared on Naruto's left arm, whatever it was, to beat the clone. Hoping they would be left alone for the night, all three went to sleep, though none of them went to sleep easily. Not even Naruto. Despite how exhausted he still was, he tossed and turned for what felt like hours before he finally passed out.

_**Flashback End**_

"It may have just been a mizu bunshin, but the source of it was no slouch, boy." Kyuubi continued. "While clones are indeed weaker than the original, that doesn't mean it was weaker than the average genin."

Naruto smiled a bit, feeling a bit of pride rush through him. "You know what, fuzzball... you're right!"

The fox then sneered down at Naruto a bit. "Of course, the fact that you failed to beat it sooner and required help to merely hold it off shows just _how_ pathetic and disgraceful you are."

Naruto sweat-dropped. "And, for a second there, I thought you were being nice..."

"It's called constructive criticism, you imbecile."

"We're getting off-topic. Let's get back to that part about you being created by a human." Naruto stated.

"Right. Well, as I was saying, originally there had been just the Shinju, but it did not last long." Kyūbi started.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, we got past that part. But how the hell did you even _learn_ about the Shinju's origins, anyway?"

At this, the Kyūbi no Yōko sighed in exasperation at once again being interrupted. "It was one of the many things that Hagoromo, or the Rikudo Sennin, as you humans now know him as, told myself and the other bijū before his death. He learned this because he and his brother once battled and defeated a powerful Fallen Angel, years after their defeat of the Shinju when it was in it's Jūbi form. After they defeated the Fallen Angel, they forced it to tell them why it attacked them.

"It told him that, even though they were "mere humans", they had the power to be a threat to the plans of the Fallen Angel faction, so it attempted to eliminate them. For some reason, it also told the two of them that it also chose to eliminate them because they had "the blood of an abomination" flowing through their veins. The Fallen Angel the two of them defeated was quite chatty once they got through with it, but it still refused to tell them just _what_ it's faction's plans were, exactly. Thankfully, once the two of them learned that the barrier fell when the Shinju transformed into the Jūbi, they erected a new one. Unfortunately, the new barrier they erected was not _nearly_ as strong as the original and would not last as nearly long or have the exact same effects. Not only that, but creating the new barrier also taxed them both greatly, killing Hagoromo's brother Hamura in the process and weakening Hagoromo himself severely."

"Wow." Naruto said, not fully comprehending the story but knowing that the death of one's brother was surely not something to be happy for.

The Kyūbi nodded in agreement, hoping that it had manage to answer all of the questions Naruto had asked it, like what was it, what was the thing that had appeared on his arm, was it related to it, was it related to how he beat Zabuza's clone, and where did it come from. "Wow, indeed. Now, does that answer all of your questions?"

"All but a couple of them. I still don't know what the hell that gauntlet that appeared on my arm was." Naruto responded.

"Oh, that? Well, that's not connected to me if that's what you want to know." Kyūbi told him.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Is it at least connected to the story you told me?"

Kyūbi seemed to smirk, something _almost_ similar to approval written on it's face. "It is. You see, boy... that gauntlet that appeared on your arm is the Boosted Gear, the Sacred Gear with the soul and powers of the Sekiryūtei within it, as well as one of the thirteen Longinus Sacred Gears, the most powerful Sacred Gears in existence."

"Sacred Gear?" Naruto repeated, confused.

"In terms you can understand, a weapon to use against Fallen Angels." Kyūbi clarified. "And Devils, Angels, and just about everyone or everything else."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Coool... what's it do?"

"Well, that's the part I'm unclear on." Kyūbi admitted.

"What?! You don't know?!" Naruto asked.

"Boy, I know what it does. The thing is, I've seen several of these Sacred Gear over the eons. After a while it's hard to tell one from another. That one I remember because it's connected to a very powerful dragon, but it's been so long since I've actually seen it used my memory is, at the moment, hazy at best."

Naruto sighed. "Greeeeeeeat...! Well, at least I know what it is and that it's powerful enough to make it so bad-ass that it's one of the thirteen rarest and most powerful of it's kind."

"Careful, boy. Having a one-of-a-kind weapon does you no good if you don't know how to use it." Kyūbi warned.

Naruto glared up at Kyūbi. "I know _that_! I'm not an idiot, you know!"

Kyūbi just gave Naruto a deadpan look. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response..."

Naruto looked up at Kyūbi. "I do have _one_ more question, though... why are you telling me all of this?"

Kyuubi looked a bit amused. "Why? Well, for starters, since you have such a weapon, it wouldn't hurt to have you know a few things so you don't kill yourself with it."

"Is that even an option?" Naruto asked, looking at his left hand like, if he didn't, it would come alive and strangle him.

"Boy, every weapon can kill the wielder if they aren't careful with it."

Naruto nodded, seeing as he'd heard of kids being dumb enough to play with their kunai and nearly lose a finger. "Any other reasons?"

"You are my jinchūriki, boy. Due to this, whatever reflects poorly upon you reflects poorly upon me. And, whether I enjoy having a jinchūriki or not, I refuse to have a weak host, especially one with a powerful weapon who doesn't know anything about it." Kyūbi replied.

"Well, if you don't know that much about it, can you tell me who does?"

Kyūbi seemed to contemplate this for a moment. "The only one I can think of would be the dragon himself. But, since none of my previous jinchūriki possessed a Sacred Gear, much less the Boosted Gear, I have no idea how you would be able to do that."

"So what then? Am I supposed to learn by trial and error?" Naruto asked.

"Either that, or ask the gear itself. Maybe it will answer." Kyūbi replied, but didn't sound serious.

Naruto face-palmed and sighed. 'I can already tell that, until I find out how to work the damn thing, learning how to use the Boosted Gear is going to be, as Shikamaru would say, troublesome...'

"There is one thing you should definitely know." Kyūbi added. "There's another Longinus-class Sacred Gear similar to that one, which also came from a dragon."

Naruto's eyes widened, remembering that from Kyūbi's earlier explanation. "You mean the one that you said was called Divine Dividing? The one with that Hakuryūkō guy in it?"

Kyūbi nodded. "Precisely, boy. Every time a new possessor for each of these two Sacred Gears have sprung up, the current possessors of each gear have always met up at some point. And, every time they met, they fought and tried to kill each other. So be on your guard in case you ever meet someone who is openly hostile to you or challenging you to a fight for seemingly no reason. If you do, there's a chance they might knowingly be the current possessor of Divine Dividing and know that you possess Boosted Gear."

"Well if they try it, I'll just kick their ass." Naruto declared, feeling pumped up.

"You better hope they're unprepared to use it, too." Kyūbi added.

Naruto sighed, immediately feeling his mood drop. "Good point... guess I'll need to start working on figuring out how to either contact the dragon or figuring out how to make it work as soon as possible, huh?"

"Yes, but no point in doing that tonight. You've already exhausted yourself, don't kill yourself by trying too soon." The large fox advised.

Naruto grinned cheekily. "Is that concern I hear in the voice of the mighty Kyūbi no Yōko?"

Kyūbi just scoffed and rolled it's large, red eyes. "You wish, boy! I merely don't want my jinchūriki to die before I manage to free myself from this damnable seal! That's all there is to it! Now leave and get some _real_ sleep!"

"If you say so." Naruto said before stepping back and disappearing to let his mind rest instead of just his body.

Left alone, Kyuubi laid down as if to rest but didn't sleep. "You had better get good with that new power boy, for I fear the counterpart will find you sooner than you would prefer. It might even already be in Konoha."

**Scene Change – Tazuna's House, the Next Morning**

The next morning, Naruto woke up feeling as normal as ever. He stretched his arms out with a yawn, then got up and scratched his butt. 'Man... I haven't slept that well in a _long_ time...'

He went down to the main room and saw once again everyone except Kakashi was there already. Including a young boy he hadn't seen last night, who he could only conclude was Tsunami's son and Tazuna's grandson.

Sakura was the first one to stop the blond. "Naruto, you feeling any better?"

He smiled to alleviate any worries she had. "Never been better."

Sakura smiled a bit at that. "I'm glad to hear it. You can be annoying sometimes... but you're _still_ my teammate."

Naruto was surprised to hear that. He didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult, so he just decided to go with it. "Thanks." He then turned to face Sasuke. "Thanks for deciding to not leave me behind, teme."

Sasuke just shrugged off Naruto's thanks. "Like I told Sakura yesterday, we owed you one. And an Uchiha _always_ repays his debts."

"So where's Sensei?" Naruto asked, feeling a bit embarrassed and wanting to take attention off himself.

"Still in bed, but awake." Sakura answered.

"I'm going to go see him for a moment." Naruto said before going back upstairs.

Naruto knew exactly what he wanted to tell his silver-haired, usually cycloptic sensei. But what he didn't know was whether or not the man would believe him. He hoped he would. Because the last thing Naruto wanted was for his shinobi career to be ended while he was still a genin, due to him being dubbed insane or unfit to be a ninja.

He knocked at the only door still closed. The jōnin had probably been given his own room to give him peace to heal. "Kakashi-sensei?"

"Naruto? That you?" He called back after a couple of moments.

Naruto opened the door and saw the silver-haired jōnin laying down under a blanket looking awake, but like he didn't want to be. "You got a moment?"

"Moments are the only thing I do have right now." Kakashi joked.

Naruto chuckled a bit at the joke and shut the door behind him, then sighed. "You're probably still wondering what that thing on my arm was, huh...?"

Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow at this. "Considering that, after it appeared on your arm, you eventually defeated a bunshin of a nukenin who was able to match me in skill, yes, I am. To be honest, it almost reminded me of something that I saw once back during the last war. I believe my sensei told me that it was called a Sacred Gear or something like that..."

Naruto didn't know whether to smile or be surprised. "You know about it?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Not much. Only that they're devices created by some long-forgotten god and were given to humans. That and that there are many different kinds of Sacred Gears of all different shapes and sizes."

"You know anything about using one?" Naruto asked.

"Not much, never had one myself, but I was told a few things so I'd know what to do against someone using this. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, Naruto. There's no guarantee that this thing was a Sacred Gear." Kakashi answered.

Naruto chuckled a bit, nervously. "Well, actually... that's what I came here for."

If he hadn't been so tired, Kakashi might have bolted up at that. "Naruto, what are you getting at?"

"An anonymous source told me last night that it was a Sacred Gear, or a Boosted Gear. One of those." The blond genin admitted.

Kakashi narrowed his good eye. There was only one source Naruto could possibly get information from in this time and place where he'd be hesitant to name them. "Naruto, you know you can't trust them."

Naruto nodded. "Trust me, I _know_ that. But what reason would they have to lie to me about this? Look, it'll probably be easier if I tell you everything they told me."

Kakashi looked unconvinced, but still sat up a bit straighter. "I'm listening."

And so, Naruto told his sensei the tale told to him by the mighty Kyūbi no Yōko. The tale of the original war between the three Biblical factions, how the God from the Bible created the Sacred Gears and gifted humans with them. Naruto also told of the battle between the Sekiryūtei and Hakuryūkō that forced the three factions to band together, of the death of the God from the Bible, the Yondai Maō, and many of the forces of all three factions in the ensuing battle, and of how an uneasy time without war was eventually reached between them. Naruto then told his sensei of the human-turned-Devil, who also possessed the Boosted Gear, eventually made his appearance and helped establish peace between the three rival factions. Of how, eons after the Devil-Sekiryūtei's death, war eventually broke out once more between the three factions and caused an apocalypse on Earth.

Naruto also told his sensei of how Kami left the Shinju on earth and had it erect a barrier to protect the world from the battle and keep confrontations between the remainders of the three factions to a minimum. Of how Ōtsutsuki Kaguya-hime's good intentions eventually caused the Shinju to turn into the monstrous Jūbi, causing the barrier to fall. Of Kaguya's fall from grace into a dictator and the defeat of the Jūbi and eventually Kaguya at the hands of Kaguya's own sons Hagoromo, the Rikudo Sennin, and Hamura. He then told of how Hagoromo created the bijū from the chakra of the god-like Jūbi, of Hamura and Hagomoro's encounter with a Fallen Angel, and of them learning the truth of the Shinju's origins from the Fallen Angel before creating a new barrier. Kakashi listened to the entire tale with rapt attention, doing his best to save his questions until the end.

"And that's everything, and I hope I got it right." Naruto said when he finished.

"Well Naruto, assuming that Kyūbi was telling the truth, this raises a lot of questions. Why did you get this weapon? Who got the other one? For that matter, what do we do about this?"

Naruto shrugged. "Beats me. I dunno why or even _how_ these Sacred Gears choose who possesses them. And, from what the fox told me, it seems like the Sekiryūtei and Hakuryūkō are always polar opposites. So it'd probably be easier to think of and look for people who're my polar opposite."

"Opposite in terms of what though, that's what you should concern yourself with." Kakashi pointed out.

Naruto was confused. "What do you mean?"

"There's more to opposites than just black and white, north and south, that sort of thing. Would this person be your opposite in fighting specialty? Your motive for fighting? Your approach to mercy? Would they be a woman since that's the opposite of a man? Would they have an elemental affinity is polar to yours? Right now, Naruto, there're too many questions to make this an easy answer."

Naruto frowned, but nodded. "You've got a point there. Looks like, if what Kyūbi told me was the truth, it just raised as many questions as it answered, maybe even more."

"But this means you will need proper training in using one. Luckily, I think there's someone in Konoha who does know about using a Sacred Gear, and when we get back, I'll be sure to ask them to help."

Naruto perked up and smiled. "Really? Thanks Sensei. Who is it?"

"You probably don't know them. So I'll let you see them for yourself."

Naruto nodded. "Alright. But, in case someone worse than Zabuza shows up, do you think I should try to find a way to activate it at will? I mean, my speed, strength, and power seemed to double like crazy as long as I had it activated, so it could be an asset."

"That's the thing, Naruto... we probably haven't seen the last of Zabuza." Kakashi told his blond student.

"What? But... but that's impossible, Kakashi-sensei! We all saw him get killed!"

"That may have been a set-up, Naruto. For one, the timing of the oinin showing up was too much of a coincidence, not to mention them getting involved before we could kill Zabuza. As long as oinin bring back the head of a nuke-nin, it doesn't matter who did the actual killing. Besides, this oinin used senbon, a weapon that's used to hurt more than to kill. This oinin was likely an accomplice Zabuza had ordered to jump in if Zabuza was in danger, then create a diversion and escape. What we saw was essentially the same thing as using a smoke bomb or Kawarimi without the other side knowing it."

Naruto looked a bit nervous. "D... do you think we should tell Sakura, Sasuke, and the others?"

"Absolutely. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't."

**Scene change – Nearby Forest, Several Hours Later**

After Kakashi was given some simple crutches and some help moving, Team Seven was outside Tazuna's house. The jōnin quickly told Sasuke and Sakura, as well as Tazuna's family, that Zabuza was likely still alive but wouldn't be able to fight them again for a couple of days, a week at the most. Though he only bothered telling Sasuke and Sakura how he concluded that, the civilian family didn't need to hear the details. They were nervous enough without them.

"With Zabuza bound to return, and likely not alone this time, we'll need to prepare you three better." Kakashi started. "Unfortunately, in my current state I don't have time to teach you three any jutsu that you can learn quick enough to use, or any taijutsu or genjutsu. But there is one thing I can show you today to get started. A little chakra control exercise commonly called Treewalking."

"Treewalking?" Naruto and Sakura repeated.

Kakashi responded by giving them a demonstration, him walking up the side of the tree like he was still on the ground. Naruto and Sakura were wide-eyed at this while Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow to show the fact that he was interested.

The jōnin stopped at a branch to briefly sit down. "This might not seem too terribly useful, but it does have it's benefits. For starters, by being able to adhere yourself to a solid surface like this, it will be harder for Zabuza and his partner to knock you off the bridge, also it will make moving around easier if you can move through the trees. But ultimately, this chakra control will unlock your potential for jutsu quantity."

"How?" Naruto asked.

"As you know, you perform jutsu by releasing chakra from your body. Well, the soles of your feet are the hardest part of your body to release chakra from, as well as the hardest to control the output of chakra for. So, if you can succeed in this jutsu, in theory you can perform any jutsu you learn. Again, in theory."

Naruto grinned a bit at this, excited. Right away, he tried to run up the tree, but found that channeling chakra to the bottom of his feet much harder than he had given it credit. He fell on his ass before he even got to make an official second step.

Naruto swore as he heard Sakura giggle in amusement. Not only that, but, for a second, he could've sworn he'd felt Sasuke smirk in amusement.

"Now don't laugh, you two. There's no guarantee that either of you will do any better. Hell, I was class Rookie of the Year and it took me over a day to get this done right." Kakashi claimed.

Sasuke and Sakura were both surprised to hear this. Kakashi didn't really talk about himself much, so this was unexpected. As was the fact itself. Sasuke went to the tree, deciding not to use the momentum of speed to take the place of actually using chakra.

He carefully put one foot on the tree while keeping the other one on the ground, and tried to channel his chakra like he usually did, just with his feet instead of his hands. With this, he began to walk up. He was doing well at first, but, eventually, he put too much chakra into one of his steps and was blown off of the tree, the trunk cracking lightly where he placed his foot down.

"Not so funny now, is it?" Naruto taunted, standing over the class prodigy.

"From up here, it is." Sakura said, making the boys look up and see the pinkette seated on her own branch. "This isn't so tough."

"Maybe not, Sakura, but you only have half the training done." Kakashi told her. "Half the lesson is being able to walk up trees. The other half is building up your chakra levels by draining them, then refilling them in the process. In short, you need to do it more than once to truly learn anything."

Naruto had to resist the urge to point at Sakura and say "Hah, hah!" at that. Crush or not, Naruto did not take being made fun of very well. He took any kind of attention he could get before he became a shinobi, but he did _not_ like being mocked.

"So keep it up, you three. Konoha wasn't built in an hour." Kakashi told them. But, before they started, Kakashi called out. "Oh,and Naruto? A word, please, before you start."

"Yeah?" Naruto replied, stopping himself as he had already attempted to run up the tree.

Kakashi shook his head. "Not here. I meant alone."

"That's what I thought." Naruto replied, glad his sensei wasn't going to expose anything yet.

"What about, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, curious.

"Sakura, if I could answer that, why would I want to talk to Naruto alone?" Kakashi asked back.

Sakura couldn't argue with that logic. "Alright, Sensei."

With the other two still working on their new exercise, Kakashi led Naruto away to a place he was certain was private. As soon as they reached their destination, Naruto turned to face Kakashi. "Alright, sensei. What did you want to talk about?"

"I want you to make some kage bunshin and have one of them head back with me to work on Treewalking with the others. Meanwhile, the others work on it here and you will work on trying to learn how to activate the Boosted Gear at will." Kakashi told the blond Uzumaki.

Naruto nodded. "Any suggestions on how?"

"Try it the same way you would any other jutsu."

"You mean focusing chakra into my hand? Wait... why do you want the kage bunshin to work on Treewalking? What good would that do?" Naruto asked.

"Try it and you'll see for yourself." Kakashi said cryptically.

Sighing a bit at Kakashi not answering his question, Naruto nodded and set himself on his task. He made several kage bunshin and gave them Kakashi's instructions, then began to try and concentrate chakra into his left hand. The hand that the Boosted Gear had appeared on during their first encounter with Zabuza. Nothing happened, he could feel his chakra gathering in place but there was no change or even a hint of one. Thinking that might not be enough, Naruto tried to imagine the bracer appearing too, but nothing still happened.

"C'mon dammit!" He all but yelled, bringing his left hand closer to his face at if yelling at it closer would change anything.

To his incredible shock, it coincidentally did. That was the moment the bracer appeared on his left hand, and it caught him completely by surprise. Enough that he tripped over his own feet and landed on his ass. Again.

"My butt's going to hate me by the end of the day." He complained.

_**To Be Continued...**_

**And there we go! Three down, three plus a "Spiral X" update to go! Hope you guys like it. Even if you don't, at least _I_ like it. Hasta luego, readers!**


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